NEW YORK - Investors suing Argentina to be paid on the country's defaulted debt can also try to block the South American country from making payments on it new $1.4 billion in Bonar 2024 bonds issued in April, the Federal judge hearing the case in Manhattan ruled.

US Federal District Court Judge Thomas Griesa allowed holdout creditors to ask for the Bonar 2024 bond to be included in the pari passu injunction.

Plaintiffs presented this request to the district court back in May after the country issued the Bonar bonds, claiming they were domestic issues.

Plaintiffs, led by hedge funds NML and Aurelius, argued that Bonar ’24 bonds were offered internationally with the assistance of foreign financial institutions and, therefore, the securities fulfill the characteristics of external indebtedness under the 1994 Fiscal Agency Agreement (FAA).

Including the Bonars in the pari passu injunction would put them in the same condition as foreign law exchange bonds, which the court currently blocks international institutions from making payments to bondholders on.

At the same time as holdout investors are working to increase the scope of the pari passu injunctions, a creditor group led by Owl Creek Asset Management is on the cusp of controlling enough par bonds to demand immediate repayment, according to people familiar with the strategy.

Investors need at least 25% of a series of notes in order to demand their money right away in a process known as acceleration. Argentina has not paid on its bonds issued in exchange for its defaulted debt since last year.